ciascuno

you know all bastards
are graphomaniacs. i
think it's a woman.
-they joke. who
are they? them.

MORIR (up to three times)
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-
-
ODIANO

CUIQUE SUUM

a black car pulls up and stops.
the driver opens
the outside handle from
the inside. two taps.
the car drives on.

a black suit. white shirt.
dark glasses whose lenses
join to a straight gold frame
like leaves on a stem.

he makes a big deal
of taking off the glasses.
pouts. it
enhances the mustache.
two taps with the glasses
on his thigh. then off
down the stone stairs,
the most delicate flowers
imaginable lining
the seams.

a greek word before
a column. he pouts.
unreadable. hands
held behind his back.

he crosses himself
in the sight of an old woman
wearing a black head scarf.
all of this happening
beneathe a blank
chartreuse medallion
surrounded by iron spears.
the medallion.
it could be soda glass.

he turns away.
he is either a greek word
or a bull's foot.

there are men
smoking behind some fronds
in a small walled coutryard.
the public is milling.

the man is called Manno,
and he is the author
of anonymous letters
to women.

he is also the author
of anonymous letters
to men which some men
feel are from a woman.